Elevator-gate-operating mechanism.



PATE-NTBD MAR. 31, 190.3 J, E. W. FOGAL. ELEVATOR GATE OPERATING MECHANISM N0 MODEL.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 20, 1902 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- 'mummuumumnm n llllllllllll llllllllllIllllllllllllll mu Hill ' PATENIED' MAR. a1, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- J. E. W. FOGAL.

ELEVATOR GATE OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLIQATION FILED DEG. 20, 1902.

H0 MODEL.

"cams vzrzns coy. mruumo N l-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. W. FOGAL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE QUINCY ELEVATOR GATE COMPANY, OF QUINCY, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ELEVATOR-GATE-OPERATING MECHANISM.

' $PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 724,385, dated, March 31, 1903.

Application filed December 20,1902. Serial No. 136,030. (No model.) 7

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. W. FOGAL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Elevator-Gate-Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to certain improvements in mechanism employed for automatically opening and closing elevator-gates.

One object of the invention is to provide a mechanism permanently connected to and operable by the moving car or platform to automatically open and close the successive doors or gates as the elevator is either ascending or descending.

A further object of the invention is to employ in connection with a movable mechanism operable by the car an automatic mechanism under the control of the car foropera tively connecting the movable mechanism to the successive gates, and, further, to control the movement so that as the oar-platform rises on a plane with the fioor the gate or door will be fully opened and the closing operation will commence as soon as the platform starts to move in either direction from the floor.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size, and minor details of the sructure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of an elevator-hatch, illustrating a gate-operating mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is asectional elevation, partly in the nature of a diagram, illustrating an elevator-hatch and a number of floors and showing the gears of the door-operating cable or chain which receives its motion from the moving, car. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the mechanism for transferring the movement of the operating cable or chain to one of the door-actuating mechanisms. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4, showing the preferred construction of coupling mechanism which may be employed. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective View of one of the gate-rope-connecting arms.

Similarnurnerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The car or platform 1 is guided within the elevator-hatch in any suitable manner and provided with any of the ordinary forms of hoisting devices. On one wall of the well or hatch are arranged a number of cable-guiding sheaves, around which extends a suitable cable 2, having its opposite ends firmly secured to the car or platform, and at a convenient point on the cable is hung a weighted sheave 3, which may be disposed at the top or bottom of the hatch and serves to keep the cable taut. The sheaves 4 at thevtop and bottom of the hatch are employed to guide the cable in proper directions, while at a point adjacent to each of the floors are two sheaves 5 and 6, of which the sheave 6 in each case is provided with means for engaging and operating the elevator door or gate. Normally the practically endless cable 2 runs loosely over all of the sheaves during both the ascending and descending movements of the car or platform and is operated by the door or gate moving mechanism only when the car or platform arrives within a short distance of a floor, at which time: the gate-operatingmechanism is actuated and the gate or door fully opened by the time the platform arrives at the plane of the floor. The several sheavest are independently mounted on horizontally-disposed shafts 9, having bearings in brackets 10, projecting from one wall of the well or hatch, the sheaves normally running loosely on said shafts, but being provided on their innerfaces with clutching-teeth 11 for the engagement with a clutch-bar carried by the shaft, and which in the present instance is in the form of a diametral extending key or pin 12, so that when the sheave is forced inwardly and above the shaft is a short shaft or stud 15,

having a sprocket-wheel 16, the two sprocketwheels 14 and 16 being connected by a link belt 17 or other connecting device of suitable character.

The sprocket wheels and chains are normally inactive, but as the car approaches each floor are operatively connected to the sheaves by an elongated cam 18 in the form of a metallic strip having curved ends and supported by small leaf-springs 19 from a vertical bar- 20, which may form a part of the frame of the car. To allow yielding movement of the cambar, the springs are preferably slotted near each end for the passage of the securing screws or bolts, so as to permit longitudinal extension of the springs as the cam-bar is forced inwardly by contact with the sheaves. The outer hub of each of the sheaves 6 is projected into the path of travel of the cam-bar, so that as the elevator-car ascends or descends the cam-bar will engage the hub of the sheave and force its clutching-face into engagement with the clutching member of the shaft, or the shaft and sheave may be suitably arranged in connection with clutching mechanism of, any character whatever for effecting a revoluble movement of the sprocket-wheel 14.

One of the links of the belt 17 is provided with a pair of lugs or plates 22, having suitable openings for the passage of the pivotal end 23 of a gate-rope-securing bracket 24:, the pivot-pin being held in place by a small diametral locking pin or key 25. Normally the gate-rope-en gaging bracket is arranged at the top of the link belt, the gate or door being in a normal or closed position. In this connection it is to be understood that the gate rope or connection 26 may be employed to connect the bracket member to a vertical or a horizontal movable gate or door of any desired character, a vertically-movable gate 27 being shown in the drawings in order to illustrate this portion of the invention.

To fully open the gate, it is necessary for the sprocket-wheels to be revolved a distance sufficient to carry the bracket 24 from the upper to the lowermost position or for a distance equal to one-half of the length of the link belt, and for this purpose the cam 18 is of sufficient length to keep the sprocket-wheel clutched to the sheave-carrying shaft to effect this movement between the time of engagement of the cam with the sheave until the car-platform arrives at the plane of the floor, and at this time the sheave 6 will be at about the center of the cam, so that if the car continues movement in the same direction the opposite half of the cam serves to keep the shaft clutched to the sheave for a length of time sufficient to return the bracket to its normal position and the door to closed position, or if the car-platform moves in the opposite .direction the previously-active half of the cam will clutch the shaft to the sheave, while the cable 2, then moving in the opposite direction, will restore the gate to closed position, the bracket traveling in the direction opposite to that in which it previously moved.

The operation is in all respects automatic, the gates or doors being opened and closed in succession as the car or platform moves in either direction.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is- 1. In a gate operating mechanism, a cable connected to the car or platform and movable therewith, a sheave arranged adjacent to each of the floors and in engagement with said cable, a normally inoperative door-operating device, and means carried by the car for operatively connecting the sheave to the dooroperating device.

2. In a door-operating mechanism, an independent'and normally inoperative operating device for each door, an actuating device ineluding a cable secured to and movable with the car, and means on the car for interlocking the actuating device with the normally inoperative door-operating device.

3. The combination with a cable secured to and movable with a car or platform, of a sheave arranged adjacent to each of the floors and revoluble by engagement with said cable, and means carried by the car for operatively connecting the sheave to the elevator gate or door.

4. The combination in a gate or door operating mechanism, of a guided cable having a connection with the car and movable with said car, of sheaves arranged adjacent to each floor and revoluble by engagement with the cable, a link belt mounted adjacent to each of the sheaves, means carried by the car or platform for operatively connecting the sheaves to the link belts, and a flexible connecting means between each link belt and one of the elevator gates or doors.

5. The combination with a car or platform, of a cable operatively connected to and movable with the platform, a plurality of sheaves of which one is mounted adjacent to each of the floors or landings, shafts on which said sheaves are loosely mounted, sprocket-wheels carried by the shafts, auxiliary sprocketwheels, link belts passing over said sprocketwheels, a flexible connection between the link belts and the gates or doors, and means car ried by the car. or platform for engaging the sheaves with their respective shafts.

6. The combination with a car or platform, of a cable having an operative connection with said platform, a sheave arranged adja-' cent to the floor or landing and engaging said cable, a shaft carrying said sheave, a secondary sprocket-wheel, a link belt passing over the two sprocket-wheels, a gate or door having a flexible connection with said link belt, an elongated cam-plate carried by the car, and yieldable springs forming a backing for said plate, substantially as specified.

7. A gate-opening mechanism for elevators, comprising a platform or car, a cable connected thereto, a pair of sprocket-wheels normally independent of the platform or car and its operating means, a sprocket-chain passed about the said wheels, the gate and its operating-rope operatively connected with the chain, a clutch-sheave about which the cable is passed and which it is adapted to turn, a sprocket-wheel shaft having a clutch member arranged in operative relationship with'respect to the clutch-sheave, and a cam-plate on the car to engage and move the clutchsheave into engagement wi th the clutch member.

8. A gate-opening mechanism for elevators comprising a platform or car, a cable, a pair of sprocket-wheels at each landing .and normally independent of the car and its operating means, a sprocket-chain passed about each of said pairs of wheels, a gate-rope operatively connected with a gate and attached to each sprocket-chain, a pair of sheaves at each landing, one sheave of each pair being constructed as a clutch member and adapted to be turned by the cable passing thereabout, a clutch member arranged in operative rela-' tionship with respect to the adjacent clutchsheave, and a cam-plate on the car to engage and move the clutch-sheave into engagement with said clutch member as the car passes.

' 9. Agate-operating mechanism forelevators comprising a pair of sprocket-wheels, a chain passed about said wheels, a gate-rope con nected with the said chain, the elevator-car, a cable, connected thereto, and means carried by the car to operatively connect one of said sprocket-Wheels with the cable as the car passes and to release the said sprocketwheel from being operated after the car has passed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN E. W. FOGAL.

Witnesses:

J H. lVIUTTART, T. L. GRAHAM. 

